Ernessa Matthews

“The part of her that should have been disgusted was numb.”
― Fuyumi Ono, The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow

“She was a nightmare of beauty and menace living right there above them, a being part raptor, part human, part divine. She knew without question that she could sweep down on them and inflict upon all of them a terrible vengeance if she wished. She had the capacity for violence within her, residing beside her heart.”
― David Anthony Durham, Acacia: The War with the Mein

“He was known to hit low, drive upward from the hips, and flip other boys over his shoulder and onto their backs, knocking the wind out of them on the glass-littered asphalt, sometimes causing a fumble and always inciting cheers from onlookers up and down the street––especially when he punctuated the hit with the words "Patent that!"...This permissible violence was unique in that it elicited respect from the victim rather than calls for retribution.”
― Jeff Hobbs, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League

“Smoke rose from the barrel of the gun like a serpent crawling up from its wicker basket”
― Andrew Lennon, Family Man